The document discusses how artists have reflected scientific and technological innovations in their work, helping shape public understanding of environmental issues. It provides examples of how J.M.W. Turner incorporated new perceptions of speed from rail travel in his painting "Rain, Steam, and Speed" and how architects have been influenced by scientific advances. The document also explains how artists like Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, and photographers helped raise awareness of environmental threats from industry and pollution. Some artists take a long-term view of the landscape and environment in works reflecting ecological concerns and human-induced climate change.

1. WORLD OF ARTWORLD OF ART
CHAPTER
EIGHTH EDITION
World of Art, Eighth Edition
Henry M. Sayre
Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
All rights reserved.
Science, Technology,
and the Environment
27

2. Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
1. Describe how technological innovation
is reflected in the arts.
2. Describe some of the ways that artists
have helped to shape public perception
of the environment.
3. Explain how some artists have
approached the landscape and
environment from a longer or deeper
point of view.

3. IntroductionIntroduction
1 of 21 of 2
• Artists and scientists are sensitive to
the events and phenomena of
existence, and dedicated to showing
the nature of reality.
• Words like "volume," "space," "mass,"
"force," "light," "color," "tension,"
"relationship," and "density" can be
used to describe both are and elements
of science.

4. IntroductionIntroduction
2 of 22 of 2
• The development of the railroad
changed the way humans perceived
speed.
• J. M. W. Turner's Rain, Steam, and
Speed—The Great Western Railway can
be seen as a commentary on this
transformation

5. J. M. W. Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed—The Great Western Railway.
1844. Oil on canvas. 33-3/4" × 4'. The National Gallery, London.
akg-image/National Gallery, London. [Fig. 27-1]

6. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Maidenhead Railroad Bridge.
1840. Two spans, each 128 ft.
© Peter Lane/Alamy. [Fig. 27-2]

7. Technology and the ArtsTechnology and the Arts
1 of 41 of 4
• Developments and innovations in
architecture have consistently been
driven by scientific and technological
advances.
 The Pont du Gard is one of the great
technological feats of Roman times.
 One of the most remarkable
architectural and engineering feats of
modern times is Kansai International
Airport in Osaka, Japan.

8. Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France.
Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE. Height 164'
© Walter Bibikow/Getty Images. [Fig. 27-3]

9. Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Aerial view of Kansai International Airport, Osaka,
Japan.
1988–94.
Photo: Kawaetsu. [Fig. 27-4]

10. Renzo Piano Building Workshop, International departures lounge, Kansai International
Airport, Osaka, Japan.
1988–94.
Photo: Shunji Ishida. [Fig. 27-5]

11. Technology and the ArtsTechnology and the Arts
2 of 42 of 4
• The technologies associated with
modeling clay, that were used in the
Middle East and China by 3000 BCE,
have remained consistent through the
years.
 One of the most interesting examples of
Neolithic fired-clay figurines is the work of
the so-called Nok people, which reveals an
artistry based on abstract geometrical
shapes.

12. Nok head.
ca. 500 BCE–200 CE. Terra cotta, height 14-3⁄16". National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.
Werner Forman Archive/National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, location: 02. [Fig. 27-6]

13. Technology and the ArtsTechnology and the Arts
3 of 43 of 4
• One of the most remarkable periods of
innovation in the ceramic arts occurred
in England in the last half of the
eighteenth century.
 The Lunar Society gathered each month
during the full moon and discussed
chemistry, medicine, electricity, gases,
other topics.
 Members inaugurated the Industrial
Revolution.

14. Technology and the ArtsTechnology and the Arts
4 of 44 of 4
• One of the most remarkable periods of
innovation in the ceramic arts occurred
in England in the last half of the
eighteenth century.
 One of the members opened a factory
hat created durable cream-colored
earthenware.
• He cast liquid clay in molds and then
fired it, which sped production.

15. Josiah Wedgwood, Queen's Ware dinner service (detail).
ca. 1790. Private collection.
Photo © Christie's Images/Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 27-7]

16. Art and EnvironmentalArt and Environmental
UnderstandingUnderstanding
• In the nineteenth century, painters
sometimes found themselves
confronted by a sense of progress that
threatened to overwhelm nature itself.
• Artists have often helped the public
come to understand just what is at
stake in these changes.

17. Nature and IndustryNature and Industry
1 of 51 of 5
• Albert Bierstadt's painting The Rocky
Mountains, Lander's Peak thrilled the
public and they associated the size of
the canvas with the great wealth of
natural resources that the West
seemed to offer.
 His paintings caused Congress to do a
study of the geological structures and
mineral resources along the route of the
transcontinental railroad.

18. Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, (detail).
1863. Oil on canvas. 6' 1-1/2" × 10' 3/4". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Rogers Fund, 1907. 123. © 2015. Image copyright Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art
Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 27-8]

19. Nature and IndustryNature and Industry
2 of 52 of 5
• Thomas Moran's paintings of
Yellowstone had so moved Congress
that they had declared it the world's
first national park in 1872.
• In 1875, the Government Printing
Office published Powell's Exploration of
the Colorado River of the West and its
Tributaries, illustrated with over 30
works by Moran.

20. Noon-Day Rest in Marble Canyon, after an original sketch by Thomas Moran, from J. W.
Powell, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries.
1875.Wood engraving, 6-1/2 × 4-3/8". The New York Public Library, New York. [Fig. 27-
9]

21. Nature and IndustryNature and Industry
3 of 53 of 5
• In the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, in the 90 miles
down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania to Wheeling, West
Virginia, great steel mills and other
heavy industry arose.
 Thomas Anshutz's Steamboat on the
Ohio shows this change, with young
swimmers in the water with the
factories smoking across the river.

22. Thomas Anshutz, Steamboat on the Ohio.
ca. 1896. Oil on canvas. 27-1/4" × 4' 1/4". Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
Patrons Art Fund: Gift of A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. 57.36. [Fig. 27-
10]

23. Nature and IndustryNature and Industry
4 of 54 of 5
• By the early decades of the twentieth
century, pollution became an evident
problem, but seemed worth the price at
the time.
 Joseph Pennell showed this in his prints
of Pittsburgh.

24. Joseph Pennell, Pittsburgh, No. II.
1909. Etching. The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Bequest of James Parmelee, 1940.782. Photo © Cleveland Museum of Art. [Fig. 27-11]

25. Nature and IndustryNature and Industry
5 of 55 of 5
• Contemporary photographer LaToya
Ruby Frazier's work is testament to the
fact that it is not worth the price.
• Self-Portrait (March 10 am) was shot
after she buried her grandmother who
died of cancer, most likely due to living
next to the steel mills.

26. LaToya Ruby Frazier, Self-Portrait (March 10 am).
2009. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 16".
© LaToya Ruby Frazier, courtesy of LaToya Ruby Frazier and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels.
[Fig. 27-12]

27. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
1 of 101 of 10
• Many natural disasters are the product
of humanity's tampering with the
environment.
• Over the course of the last decade,
Matthew Ritchie created a number of
video and sculpture installations
inspired by the collapse or malfunction
of manmade systems.

28. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
2 of 102 of 10
• In Ritchie's animated video The Iron
City, the world is inundated by flood.
• The Japanese six-person artist
collective Chim  Pom created an
exhibition, the centerpiece of which was
Radiation-Exposed Flowers Harmony.
 The piece consisted of flowers and
plants collected within a 20-mile radius
of the Fukushima power plant.

29. Matthew Ritchie, three stills from The Iron City.
2006. Continuous video loop with interactive audio, 1-1/2 hours.
© Matthew Ritchie, Image Courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York.
[Fig. 27-13]

30. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
3 of 103 of 10
• The Japanese six-person artist
collective Chim  Pom created an
exhibition, the centerpiece of which was
Radiation-Exposed Flowers Harmony.
 A Geiger counter sat beside the flowers,
always reading a low level of
radioactivity, and before the exhibition
was over, the flowers had begun to rot.

31. Chim-Pom, in collaboration with Junichi Kakizaki, Radiation-Exposed Flowers Harmony.
2011. Flowers, plants, mixed media.
Photo: Kei Miyajima. Courtesy of MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo. © Chim Pom. [Fig. 27-↑
14]

32. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
4 of 104 of 10
• Alan Montgomery's Deepwater Horizon
is named for the oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico.
• It reflects this duality, luscious and
painterly on the one hand, but
reflecting the tragedy of the disaster on
the other.

33. Alan Montgomery, Deepwater Horizon.
2011. Oil on canvas and print media, 18 x 15".
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 27-15]

34. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
5 of 105 of 10
• Filmmaker Spike Lee, together with
cameraman Cliff Charles, created a four
hour film that ran on HBO titled When
the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four
Acts, which was centered around
Hurrican Katrina.

35. Spike Lee (director and producer), When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.
2006. Still. Film, 4 hrs.
© 4O Acres and a Mule/HBO/Kobal Collection. [Fig. 27-16]

36. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
6 of 106 of 10
• The inadequacy of the relief effort in
New Orleans is a direct reflection of the
indifference and prejudice of a country
to those predominantly black and poor
citizens—an example of environmental
racism.

37. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
7 of 107 of 10
• Artist/activist Mel Chin saw his first
duty as an artist to be the abatement
of lead in the soil of New Orleans.
• He created Operation Paydirt/Fundred
Dollar Bill Project an ongoing
collaboration initiated by himself,
between schoolchildren—those most
affected by lead poisoning—and
scientists.

38. Mel Chin, Operation Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project.
2006–ongoing.
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 27-17]

39. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
8 of 108 of 10
• Chin's goal is to raise $300 million in
symbolic cash, representing the real
$300 million price tag for lead
abatement in New Orleans.

40. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
9 of 109 of 10
• Among the most troubling of
environmental disasters is climate
change, a direct result of pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.
 A series of three sculptures by artist
Maya Lin calls attention to this.

41. Environmental CatastropheEnvironmental Catastrophe
10 of 1010 of 10
• Among the most troubling of
environmental disasters is climate
change, a direct result of pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.
 Titled Disappearing Bodies of Water, the
work consists of layers of white marble
carved to represent the diminution of
three bodies of water between 1980 and
today.

42. Maya Lin, Disappearing Bodies of Water: Arctic Ice.
2013. Vermont Danby marble, granite base, 4' × 46" × 4' 4". Edition 1 of 3 + 1 AP.
© Maya Lin Studio, courtesy of Pace Gallery, New York. Photograph courtesy of Pace
Gallery. [Fig. 27-18]

43. Art, the Environment, and the Longer ViewArt, the Environment, and the Longer View
1 of 51 of 5
• Artist Mary Mattingly has created
projects designed to show us how we
might survive ecological doom.
• In late July 2013, Mattingly took up
residence in her Triple Island on a
barren stretch of Manhattan waterfront.
 It consisted of a living space,
community garden, and greenhouse.

44. Art, the Environment, and the Longer ViewArt, the Environment, and the Longer View
2 of 52 of 5
• In late July 2013, Mattingly took up
residence in her Triple Island on a
barren stretch of Manhattan waterfront.
 Each is on its own island constructed on
floatbale 55-gallon drums.

45. Mary Mattingly, Triple Island.
2013. Three interlocking buoyant platforms with gardens, livestock, and functional
shelter spaces.
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 27-19]

46. Art, the Environment, and the Longer ViewArt, the Environment, and the Longer View
3 of 53 of 5
• Painter Don Gray created a series of
paintings titled Nine Stones that use
stones as metaphors for the living
earth.
• Robert Smithson, creator of Spiral
Jetty, is interested in representing the
forces of human-induced environmental
entropy.

47. Don Gray, Stone #2, from the series Nine Stones.
2009. Oil on panel, 23 x 23".
© 2009, Don Gray. [Fig. 27-20]

48. Art, the Environment, and the Longer ViewArt, the Environment, and the Longer View
4 of 54 of 5
• Spiral Jetty collaborates with entropy
by providing a place where, over time,
the human works will inevitably
succumb to the persistence of natural
processes.

49. Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah.
April 1970. Black rock, salt crystals, earth, red water (algae), 3' 6" × 15' × 1,500'.
Collection: Dia Art Foundation, New York. Courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York and
Shanghai. Art © Holt Smithson Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 27-21]

50. Art, the Environment, and the Longer ViewArt, the Environment, and the Longer View
5 of 55 of 5
• Artist Andrea Bowers' work has focused
on nonviolent civil disobedience.
• United States v. Tim DeChristopher is a
16-minute video of desert shots and
Tim DeChristopher telling his story
about his political statement to bid on
22 acres of land that were for auction
to be used for oil and gas exploration.

51. Andrea Bowers, United States v. Tim DeChristopher.
2010. Single-channel HD video, color with sound, 16 min. 15 sec. looped. Utah Museum
of Fine Arts.
Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects. [Fig. 27-22]

52. The Critical ProcessThe Critical Process
• Thinking about Science, Technology,
and the Environment
 Since 2005, New York artist David
Brooks has studied the evolution of the
local armored catfish populations.
 His sculpture Imbroglios (A Phylogenetic
Tree, from Homo Sapiens to Megalops
Atlanticus) raises the question, "What is
the relationship between the tarpon and
humankind?"

53. David Brooks, Imbroglios (A Phylogenetic Tree, from Homo Sapiens to Megalops
Atlanticus).
2012. Fiberglass, gelcoat, MDF, pencil, hardware, 5 x 12 x 21'.
Courtesy of the artist and American Contemporary, New York. © David Brooks. [Fig. 27-
23]

54. Thinking BackThinking Back
1. Describe how technological innovation
is reflected in the arts.
2. Describe some of the ways that artists
have helped to shape public perception
of the environment.
3. Explain how some artists have
approached the landscape and
environment from a longer or deeper
point of view.